Pubdate: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 Source: Albuquerque Tribune (NM) Copyright: 2001 The Albuquerque Tribune Contact: P.O. Drawer T, 7777 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109 Website: http://www.abqtrib.com/ Author: Lowry McAllen, Tribune Reporter COMMITTEES PASS MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL Seriously ill patients who might benefit from the pain-relieving, nausea-alleviating effects of marijuana have come a little closer to getting legal relief at the Legislature. But a rough road for passage of the measure is expected in the full House and Senate. Two committees in the Legislature Tuesday passed a bill that would permit some use of marijuana for patients -- like those with AIDS and cancer -- that could receive some therapeutic benefit from the drug. The bill passed the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, with Democrats giving the necessary votes for passage. Three Democrats voted for the bill and one voted against. Two Republicans supported it and two were opposed. Rep. Joe Thompson, an Albuquerque Republican and the bill's sponsor in the House, recognized it will be a challenge to convince some legislators who are undecided on the issue because of "hidden political ramifications" that might accompany a vote in favor of the bill. One of those ramifications, in Thompson's view, is the possible perception that those who vote in favor of the bill could be later portrayed as being soft on drugs. Thompson said he doesn't see his bill as part of an effort to decriminalize drugs in general. "This is so distant from that; I don't see this as drug policy reform," he said after the bill passed the committee. Convincing undecided legislators to support this "Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act" will require showing them that it really is about good medicine, and not about broadening public access to drugs, Thompson said. Thompson's bill, HB 431, is now scheduled to go to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration, after which it could go before the full House. A senator in the Senate Public Affairs Committee that passed an identical version of the bill said Tuesday night that she was voting to support it strictly for medical purposes. Sen. Mary Kay Papen, a Las Cruces Democrat, said she wanted to alleviate the pain that some patients feel who might be best treated by marijuana. Members of that committee, the Senate Public Affairs Committee, voted unanimously to approve the bill. Sen. Steve Komadina said he hoped the bill was not part of a larger attempt to legalize marijuana. He voted in favor of the medical marijuana bill. Komadina, a Corrales Republican and a physician, said he did not want the medical bill to be the "camel's nose peeking under the tent" -- meaning that approving the drug for medical use should not be seen as part of a general push to approve it for non-medical use. Members of the Senate committee pointed out blurry areas that they expected to be clarified when the bill -- SB 319 -- goes to the Senate Judiciary Committee next. One point of regulation they wanted to know more about was who would be cultivating the marijuana. Health Secretary Alex Valdez admitted during the hearing Tuesday night that the exact producer of the legal marijuana for medical use has not been defined yet. "We don't know who is going to be doing the growing and the selling," Valdez said. That regulatory function is supposed to be tackled by the state Health Department, as the bill is currently written. - --- MAP posted-by: Andrew